12th September 2006, 6:50 PM
Quote:"Analysts are punishing Sony over its recent PS3 release delay announcement, with a number indicating that they believe the delay is just a bit too much for the market to bear. Unfortunately for Sony, they're probably right.
With Xbox 360 well and truly already established, an HD DVD plug-in coming before the end of the year, Microsoft and to a lesser extent Nintendo have the whole holiday shopping season plus the ensuing three months to themselves.
By the time PS3 makes to store shelves in sufficient quantities, there will probably be about 15 million Xbox 360 consoles in the market, many of them with piggy-back HD DVD players.
For Sony, this may be too much on a number of fronts.
Gamers, as fanatical as they are about their craft, have only so much money to spend and their pockets may well be empty by the time the high-priced PS3 becomes available in March-April. No doubt, the first batch of PS3 consoles will go out door quickly but it's the subsequent sales that matter.
Looking at it things from a high definition video player perspective, HD DVD already had a huge price advantage over Sony's Blu-ray. The PS3 was going to be a way to narrow the gap. However, that is not going to happen for at least six months now. Meanwhile, in addition to the relatively cheap HD DVD players already on the market, Microsoft will bring out a US$200 plug-in box for the millions of Xbox 360 consoles.
In addition, Toshiba just yesterday announced a new three-layer disc technology that will enable HD DVD discs to play on ordinary DVD players.
Meanwhile, it is worth bearing in mind that the reason given for the delay in manufacturing PS3 is a problem with the production process of the Blu-ray diode.
As if to rub further salt into its wounds, the Sony name in manufacturing has also suffered further pressure from the Lithium Ion battery recalls by Dell and Apple.
Sony has a reputation as one of the world's great technology innovators and manufacturers. However, 2006 will not be remembered as one of its finest years. "
Source:
http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/5582/983/
Microsoft will have bundles this holiday and no shortages.
About the HD-DVD hybrid...that makes a painless upgrade to HD, but you can start building your library now, or soon anyway.
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